On Friday 2nd May, 10 people from Wessex left Newhaven for Dieppe in France and travelled on to Luneray in Normandy to take part in the first le Weekend in France since 2018. Most of those 10 were first time participants, some fluent in French and for others it was their first time abroad.
We were warmly welcomed at the United Protestant Church of France in Luneray, in warm sunshine. We greeted old friends and met new ones. We had tea, cake and met our hosts for the weekend, then we went our separate ways for an evening with our hosts.
Alex and I stayed with our old friends Sophie & Francois Verhoeven, who have been involved with Le Weekend since 2010. We enjoyed a relaxing evening with great discussions around the table.
Sophie had organised the church members to provide hospitality and food for all throughout the weekend. We gathered on Saturday for a morning of discussion on our chosen theme The Creative Word, joined by our moderator Rev Dr Michael Hopkins and his daughter, who had crossed overnight, by some church members from Rouen and others from Luneray.
We were about 30 people around a table, having a discussion which was translated so everyone could understand. Michael had prepared some questions to start us off, considering the Creative Word in Genesis, then after a break God’s Living Word in Jesus.
We had lunch then set off for a tour of a local chateau which had a history dating back to the 13th century, including being used as a V1 & V2 base during WWII. The resistance found out and smuggled details out so the RAF bombed the site extensively.
The present owner, Alain Germain, a noted theatre costume designer of the 70s and 80s, bought and restored the chateau and now he holds exhibitions of his and others works of art and design.
We returned to Luneray and enjoyed singing together in French and English until it was time for dinner, accompanied by good wine.
Luneray has a market on Sunday and we wandered round before the service which was led by Pr Charles Klagba with Michael assisting with communion. Charles shared an encouraging message, that the Risen Jesus comes to us even if we have got lost in the past and calls us to follow Him with love.
A jazz band played during the service and afterwards as we enjoyed drinks with the church community before eating lunch. There was plenty of food for everyone before we said our goodbyes and set off back to Dieppe for our ferry home.
This was a really encouraging weekend. After Covid and Brexit, Sophie in France and I in England had some struggles as we tried to arrange le Weekend. But I am sure that the Living word was shared amongst us in both languages and assuring us that the Risen Christ meets us at Le Weekend and that the love of God is present with us all no matter what language we speak.
If you would like to be involved in the 2026 Le Weekend in Wessex, please get in touch with Helen Everard on helen.everard158@gmail.com. We are looking for a church to host the group!
